| 2009 Survey Results | 2008 Survey Results | 2007 Survey Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The relationship between the company and the UK customer base seems to be going from bad to worse. The UK Enhancement Forum (a group of customers charged with prioritising Symphony/Unicorn product enhancement requests from all the UK sites) recently decided to dissolve itself after 2 years of hard work, citing company inertia and a lack in interest from the company in taking the requests seriously. At Huddersfield, I've had no direct contact from our Account Manager in nearly 2 years, despite having a contract which requires a quarterly on-site visit from the company. As the most recent version of Horizon available to the UK academic market is still 7.3.4, we've not been able to upgrade for over 2 years and are stuck with a system that won't work with Vista or Windows 7, and that requires a legacy version of Java. The only benefit of this is that we rarely require customer support from the company. Sadly, I find myself unable to think of anything positive to say about the company!
The [...]is currently implementing a Koha ILS for its books by mail program. Our rural bookmobile program is next on the agenda. It has been a struggle since we are doing a solo implementation, but we are learning. Working with OSS and the "community" that supports it is interesting and challenging at the same time. Our hope is the community will become more organized with at least as much participation from non-technical librarians as developers.
We're currently on Horizon. We're considering all options but will likely stay on it for the next couple of years since we're not impressed enough with any of our ILS options to compensate for the cost of migration. At this point, we don't feel the open source ILS options meet our needs. While being an open source system might be slightly in an ILS's favor, we put a higher priority on functionality and patron satisfaction.
I have heard people claim the current ILS products on the market are too bloated, and the new open source systems will soon be sufficient for most libraries' needs. I seriously have my doubts. There is a reason why customers wanted that functionality, and I'm just not ready to go backwards to an ILS circa 1990. The current OSS products on the market are quickly gaining ground, and will be great when they have matured. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this growth over time.
This year was the first time in ages that we have been proactively contacted by a representative of SirsiDynix and provided with a opportunity to provide feedback.
[...] is looking into the feasibility of a national LMS for interested libraries with additional discovery tools
We have signed with Polaris. go live May, 2010
Two open source vendors responded to our RFP but neither passed the first round of consideration. Lack of truly functional acquisitions and serials modules were the biggest factors in our dropping them from consideration.
Original contract included some additional services that did not materialize. Overall for cost and services we are satisfied with the ILS.
We just signed a contract with Polaris and look forward to working with them. While we had been a loyal Dynix customer since 1990, we have been disappointed in their product and support since our last upgrade in 2005. We are a smaller library and do not have a dedicated IT staff and for that reason have stayed away from open source at this time.
We're unhappy with Sirsi/Dynix for dropping Horizon development. And for the way they did it. We'll probably ride out Horizon for a couple of years but will not give the Sirsi ILS much consideration. I'd like to go open-source but both available systems are still pretty primitive IMO and I'm not sure our IT dept. would embrace that option anyway. I don't care for III's black box approach but I've worked with them before and like the system, especially at the staff user end. They are expensive though.
We do not have a contract directly with our ILS company. We are a member of a regional library system [...] which has contracted for the whole region. The responses, above, dealing with "company" and "customer support" indicate our level of satisfaction with [...] and our relationship with Horizon through it rather than any direct relationship. Therefore, our responses may not be applicable for the purposes of your survey.
Since we are likely to migrate to an entirely new system, in several years from now, we are working to keep up-to-date with innovations in ILS, both proprietary and Open source systems.
[...] was scheduled to switch to 'Symphony' in 2009, but decided the software wasn't developed enough for our needs as a Horizon user, so just recently bought a new Horizon server, and will stay put and see what shakes out in the ILS industry for the next few years.
I would need more free time if we went with open source.
We are migrating to a consortium that is currently using Symphony. Migration date is mid December 2009.
We would like to implement a search interface, but do not currently have funding to do so.
Our recent upgrade to Horizon 7.5 was handled extremely efficiently and professionally by the SirsiDynix upgrade team. However this has not been our overall experience. SirsiDynix support has been declining in quality since the last corporate takeover. Also, some perfectly ordinary procedures that should be covered under our maintenance contract are now being charged separately for. Example -- taking SIP to a new server cost us $1500, whereas in the past this would have been free.
Migrating to another ILS is out of the question due to the lack of library IT support. We have a library systems administrator, but the servers are located in IT. Our biggest problem with Horizon has been with RPA (remote patron authentication). They don't seem to currently have anyone with the expertise to answer our questions.
[...] has begun a pilot project with four volunteer libraries working as "Development Partners". These libraries are begin brought up on Evergreen as a separate network early in 2010. The migration of [...]itself is now slated for sometime in 2011.
We consider the cost of our yearly ILS service agreement to be unacceptable. The ILS was sold to us as an interim solution while 'version 8' was being perfected. Like others, the rug was pulled out from under us and we are left with a dead-end product that is nowhere near what our customers and staff expect and deserve and an alternative that we did not choose. We would much rather spend our annual service fee on support from a responsive vendor, using open-source software, getting the features we want and our customers rightfully expect.
All decisions are made on the consortium level [...]. I felt SirsiDynix dropped the ball a bit on the last upgrade. We had lots more problems, delays, and excuses than with previous upgrades. I didn't feel the new changes/improvements(?) were sufficiently desirable to make up for the long problem period.
The next time around, we'll definitely take a closer look at Evergreen.
In general our problem is that we are "searching" a lot the system in the meaning that we think to improve something in the catalogue (for example to separate authorities indexes, not all authorities in one index) and we have to ask the company to activate it and be careful if this happened or not, or what may this cause. I think that all libraries should adopt open source systems but this is a movement that requires permanent staff with knowledge in computer programming etc. It is rather strange but this is what happens in most of the libraries in Greece: we prefer to buy an automation library and pay annually for preservation and not having a person for administrator.
Although we are interested in some of the features offered by other ILS vendors, the pricing offered to move to Symphony will be too advantageous in these economic times to truly consider moving to another vendor.
Moving to SirsiDynix Symphony would mainly be driven by cost and the approaching End Of Life of Horizon - not because we consider it best of breed.
It is possible Library will go out to Tender for a new Libary Management System in 2010.
Classic installation occurred 1991. Horzion 8x installion in 2006 was aborted due to company withdrawing the product.
Moving to Polaris May 2010
Budget constraints will cause us to look long and hard at any future ILS upgrade or enhancement. The upfront cost benefit of open source is tempting but could become a money pit with respect to ongoing support. Beginning to feel that all ILSes are needlessly complex and therefore expensive.
Our most pressing current concern is to 'modernize' our PAC which includes: enhancing search, improving interface and navigation, providing patron ability to set personal preferences (search index, number of results, sorts, limits, etc.), adding Web 2.0 features (reviews, ratings, 'my bookshelf', sharing 'my bookshelf', RSS feeds of new titles, authors or subjects of interest, etc. etc.). We will look at both integrated commercial products and at adding bits and pieces as we can within the limited scope of the current HIP.
Our current version of our ILS is getting outdated but the main reason we are not yet considering a new one is budget. As a state supported institution there is no way we could fund implementing a new system in the immediate future.
A large system like [...] requires parameters and certain complexity of workflow that is still lacking in open source systems.
Relatively happy with Aquabrowser searching, unhappy with the need for users to enter barcode/pin information in each time they request an item. We are considering Enterprise for ONLY this reason, we would otherwise not be considering products from SirsiDynix.
As our Horizon SaaS system is no longer under "end of life" threat, we are waiting for open source to mature a little more. We expect to migrate to something other than a SirsiDynix product, but a migration is unlikely for several years.
We are satisfied with Horizon as a product but, of course, the support isn't there. We've floated the idea of going open source, but our ultimate feeling is that the organization, support, and features of [...] aren't where we would want them to be yet. Cataloging, for instance, seems to be up in the air as to whether consortia members or a central cataloging agency is going to be doing it. Furthermore, a panel of [...] members at this year's recent [...] convention involved vague, general, and noncommittal answers from the panel participants, which was not reassuring. If and when we do leave Horizon, it will most likely be for open source, as we are a small county. However, we plan on holding off as long as possible, because we simply don't think [...]s system is ready in the areas of technology, data reporting, general day-to-day library rules-based operation, or cataloging (we will 100% not move until there is a cataloging module in place) to make that move yet.
We are pleased Sirsidynix is ging to continue to support our versiosn of Horizon and not "force" us to migrate to Symphony any time soon.
zon from SirsiDynix has been an excellent product, but the annual maintenance is too costly at this point.
Horizon has been an excellent product, but the annual maintenance is too costly at this point.
The University Library manages the ILS and I contract usage for the system from them. Therefore, I really can't respond to these questions. We use Endeca as the user interface and have considered Evergreen as an Open Source product.
Horizon has been an excellent product, but the annual maintenance is too costly at this point.
We have not made the decision to migrate to Symphony yet and it is up in the air as to when that would occur. Our department which works with public interfaces is investigating what opac interface would be the best to work with what we have.
We are in the midst of a search and are "not thrilled" with any of our options as they exist today. I have hopes that either AGent or an open source option will be well enough developed that we can seriously consider it by summer.
Reason for moving to KOHA is no budget for libraries anymore
We are moving to a new LMS over the Christmas / New Year break.
Our IT dept. will not allow us to consider open source. We are also considering SaaS. It might be useful to see how many libraries are headed in that direction.
We get excellent service from the sales & support staff who serve the Horizon customers. My ratings of 4s, 5s & 6s are based on SirsiDynix as a company, NOT the Horizon-specific support. SD's support portal is very awkward to use so I avoid it. When Dynix was a standalone company, I could find resolutions on their site very easily & could solve some of my problems without needing to formally log them.
We will probably stay with Horizon as long as we can, but we need to start looking at other options before the Horizon EOL. I'll miss Horizon, but I'm intrigued by the flexibility and ability to customize that I've seen in some of the other products I've been looking at.
Were considering AquaBrowser earlier but have decided to use Enterprise when we migrate to Symphony, within 18 to 24 months. We see no need to move to another vendor at this time.
The application is for 6 small hospital libraries. WebFeat Federated Search is used with the application to allow searching across the 5 catalogs together. The migration from Horizon to EOS was cost effective resulting in $30,000 savings to the system. The catalogs are shrinking and it is unlikely that any further ILS implementation will be undertaken.
The Conifer project in Ontario looks promising, but we see this as a pilot project and will wait to see how the other Ontario universities (OCUL) respond to Conifer. There will still be a vendor relationship via support companies such as Equinox and Alpha G, so there is not a lot of cost savings but much more flexibility in system design for the future.
While customer/tech support have been o.k., we've experienced some major communication breakdowns with the sales team in that they haven't been able to deliver any of the information we've asked them for. (And info they delivered last year, proved to be wrong and put us in a precarious situation regarding future support services.) It's been very frustrating and due to these issues it is not likely that they will even be considered when we upgrade our ILS in 2-3 years.
We are not likely to migrate in the next few years, but when we do, we will definitely consider open source. We are pleased with SirsiDynix personnel and customer support but do have some concerns about the company ownership and the direction that the company is moving overall.
We do not have the time, personnel, or money to hire personnel to mess with an open source ILS. I need good off-site technical support and we get that from SirsiDynix.
Wish the market had something new to offer rather than various versions of 1990s ILS technology. Search Interfaces for the OPAC and some ERM systesm seem to be the newer options.
We will be moving to Polaris in 2010. We are very unsatisfied with SirsiDynix as a whole
Sadly, our current, ongoing search for a new ILS is rather discouraging. None of the products wow the search team, and we may decide to stay with Horizon though it has definite shortcomings. Our experience is that the industry is at a low without any strong contenders.
Current vendor provides a SaaS option which we will be migrating to in 2010. All new services being implemented in 2010 are provided by a third party partners of our vendor which provides smooth integration, i.e. eCommerce, integrated public printing and photocopying, program registration and room booking.
We anticipate migrating to Evergreen in early 2010. We are planning to test the data during the first week of January to ensure that all is transferring properly, and final migration is anticipated on MLK Day.
|
|
|